Clean Air Zones (Tow Car)

[youngricharduk]

I currently tow a 1500kg caravan with an ‘08 VW Touareg diesel, obviously this is not Euro 6 compliant and I pay nearly £500 a year road tax. I use the vehicle to commute into the city centre and they’re now talking about turning this into a clean air zone. Is anyone else struggling with this type of situation? I don’t really want to get a second car and don’t fancy pulling out £15k to get a newer tow car that’s up to the job. How are other people coping with this, should I look at getting a larger engine petrol? All these newer small engine turbo powered cars/hybrids always have very low towing limits.
Any advice appreciated

[Jonboy_t]

I would think that a clean air city would take a couple of years (at least) to implement so it could be that you’re due to change the car before it happens anyway. But the question still remains about what car though!

I’m not up to speed with what is or isn’t compliant, but a Mitsubishi Outlander electric hybrid has, I believe, a pretty decent towing capacity but can’t see anything about nose weight.

[youngricharduk]

Jonboy_t said:

I would think that a clean air city would take a couple of years (at least) to implement so it could be that you’re due to change the car before it happens anyway. But the question still remains about what car though!

I’m not up to speed with what is or isn’t compliant, but a Mitsubishi Outlander electric hybrid has, I believe, a pretty decent towing capacity but can’t see anything about nose weight.

thanks for the reply, I believe the towball limit is 85kg and the braked towing limit is 1500kg, my caravan MTPLM is 1473kg so doesn't leave a huge amount of room. The equivalent diesel has towing limit of 2000kgs so I wonder why the hybrids are restricted to towing lower weights? Does it cause more strain or does anyone know the reason?

[Jonboy_t]

I think ‘vans don’t go hand in hand with what a lot of manufacturers are hoping to achieve at the moment! My old chap has an 18 plate Discovery and, whilst it’s capable of pulling it along the road, I think their van laden with a weeks worth of stuff is teetering on what it should pull! For me (and him, as a lifelong LR driver), it’s sealed the deal that they’re a fashion accessory now.

Would a Hilux kind of jobbie work for you?

[anonymous-user]

What about a petrol version of the Tourag, Audi Q7 etc? It seems that most petrol vehicles are allowed in. We recently bought a 2013 xc90 3.2 petrol (purely down to a similar restriction in German cities) Looking at the documents it has a towing capacity of just over 2 tonnes.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...

Massive petrol engine + decent LPG conversion and you're on to a winner. Even our elderly Lexus LS430 seems to be ok according to the above site.

[youngricharduk]

CDB1983 said:

What about a petrol version of the Tourag, Audi Q7 etc? It seems that most petrol vehicles are allowed in. We recently bought a 2013 xc90 3.2 petrol (purely down to a similar restriction in German cities) Looking at the documents it has a towing capacity of just over 2 tonnes.

https://tfl.gov.uk/modes/driving/ultra-low-emissio...

Massive petrol engine + decent LPG conversion and you're on to a winner. Even our elderly Lexus LS430 seems to be ok according to the above site.

Yeah I think you're right, I think the way to go is large petrol engine and just suffer the lower mpg received.

[anonymous-user]

We bought this with the intention of selling the motorhome and buying a decent twin axle caravan.

[url|https://thumbsnap.com/JOK6cTlt[/url]

My man maths tells me that it should work out cheaper than insurance, tax, and servicing the camper and a daily driver if the Volvo will pull a big van.

Just stuck the thing on LPG and so far it seems really cheap to run, 23mpg @45p per litre. Haven't towed with it yet but I can't see it being anymore expensive than the motorhome.

The V8 XC90 with the Yamaha V8 is apparently a fantastic car however our budget wouldn't stretch to one so had to go with the 3.2 straight 6 (LHD stuff is really expensive)

[Baby Shark doo doo doo doo]

Guess you’re near Birmingham? Our work neighbours have had to close shop as they can’t afford to replace their ten trucks

[chasingracecars]

Personally I would keep what you have. Yes it will cost to take it into low emissions zones but relative to the additional cost of changing car and potentially buying a lemon I would stick with the Touareg. Also finding a car as capable and comfortable to tow the caravan limits you options and could find yourself in a number of ways.

[youngricharduk]

Baby Shark doo doo doo doo said:

Guess you’re near Birmingham? Our work neighbours have had to close shop as they can’t afford to replace their ten trucks

No I'm actually near Newcastle and they now talking about introducing the clean air zone here. Hopefully it years off and I won't have an issue.

[youngricharduk]

CDB1983 said:

We bought this with the intention of selling the motorhome and buying a decent twin axle caravan.

[url|https://thumbsnap.com/JOK6cTlt[/url]

My man maths tells me that it should work out cheaper than insurance, tax, and servicing the camper and a daily driver if the Volvo will pull a big van.

Just stuck the thing on LPG and so far it seems really cheap to run, 23mpg @45p per litre. Haven't towed with it yet but I can't see it being anymore expensive than the motorhome.

The V8 XC90 with the Yamaha V8 is apparently a fantastic car however our budget wouldn't stretch to one so had to go with the 3.2 straight 6 (LHD stuff is really expensive)

Very nice, that is a car I really fancy!

[youngricharduk]

chasingracecars said:

Personally I would keep what you have. Yes it will cost to take it into low emissions zones but relative to the additional cost of changing car and potentially buying a lemon I would stick with the Touareg. Also finding a car as capable and comfortable to tow the caravan limits you options and could find yourself in a number of ways.

Yeah your response is far too sensible